


Let the Living Creature Lie

by ExpectoPatronum



Series: When the Wind Blows [3]
Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Look I don't know, Multi, Sassy Peter is the Best Peter, Sleepy Cuddles, Supernanny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 11:59:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16136771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpectoPatronum/pseuds/ExpectoPatronum
Summary: "This isn’t about the baby. This isn’t pregnancy hormones. This is – I’ll tell you when this started. The second I put away the Iron Man suit. That’s what did it. That’s when I lost all the power in our relationship.”Peter leaned back a little further into Tony’s side, and the billionaire obligingly settled his arm around the kid’s chest.“If you’re nothing without that suit, Mr. Stark,” Peter said as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, “then you shouldn’t have it.”





	Let the Living Creature Lie

"I didn’t think I’d like retirement.” Tony murmured.

On the screen in front of him, Supernanny was attempting to teach a frazzled-looking father the basics of her Bedtime Technique.

Beside him, Peter shifted until he could crane his neck and peer back into Tony’s face, his expression amused.

“You’re still the brains behind a multi-billion dollar industry. Would you call that retirement?”

Tony shrugged, careful not to jostle the teenager who was slumped against him on the sofa, his back against Tony’s shoulder.

“Maybe not. Pepper’s been making me wear a suit when I come to meetings, if you can believe it. Still does all the talking, but makes me put on a tie. Not even a fun tie – a _professional_ tie.”

“Well,” Peter began, sounding irritatingly reasonable, “you did get her pregnant.” And then, as the toddler on the screen let out a particularly piercing scream and in perfect sync with Jo Frost, “’The third time they come out of bed, you say nothing.’ Don’t these parents ever listen?”

“We got pregnant on purpose! We had a conversation about it beforehand and everything. I mean, not _right_ beforehand–”

“Oh _God _!__ ” Peter covered his face with his hand with a nervous laugh.

“–but it wasn’t a _surprise baby_ is my point. So why am I being punished for it? Nope. This isn’t about the baby. This isn’t pregnancy hormones. This is – I’ll tell you when this started. The second I put away the Iron Man suit. That’s what did it. That’s when I lost all the power in our relationship.”

Peter leaned back a little further into Tony’s side, and the billionaire obligingly settled his arm around the kid’s chest.

“If you’re nothing without that suit, Mr. Stark,” Peter said as though butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, “then you shouldn’t have it.”

Tony retaliated by drilling his fingers into the boy’s ribs.

“Ah! Okayokay _okay _!__ S-sorry!” Peter gasped, doubling over with laughter.

“Smart ass. I’m taking back the spider suit. You can go back to fighting crime in your adorable footy pajamas, you little shit.” But Tony relented, patting the kid’s chest as he caught his breath.

Peter seemed unimpressed by the threat, still grinning as he cuddled back under Tony’s arm. “Somebody’s gotta do it. And with you and the rest of the team off to your retirement homes, sipping mojitos by the beach…” He trailed off and gestured to the screen, where Supernanny was now attempting to wrangle another child into the Naughty Chair for a time-out, “Are you even watching this? You’re supposed to be researching for your future child, Mr. Stark.”

“Excuse me,” Tony interjected, ignoring both the action on screen and the pointed reminder and instead poking the teenager in the chest, “it’s not that type of retirement. I didn’t move to Florida and buy a bungalow.”

“Did Dr. Banner buy a bungalow?” Peter smirked.

“You know what? I take it back. I’m not enjoying retirement. You’re ruining my golden years.”

“Sorry,” Peter yawned, though he clearly wasn’t, and he slid down until his head was pillowed on Tony’s thigh.

“Liar,” Tony murmured, propping his feet up on the nearby ottoman and settling in for what was clearly going to be another of the kid’s mid-afternoon naps.

They’d gotten better at this sort of thing, he realized.

Since Peter’s last visit to the compound, Tony had made a point of discreetly re-establishing his residence in Manhattan. The tower had been sold, but that was just as well; after finding out that he and Pepper were expecting and officially declaring his retirement as Iron Man, Tony was keen to stay as far from the public eye as possible. He’d settled on a condominium in Greenwich Village with more than enough room for his small family and a nice view of the Hudson.

Not by coincidence, it made it much easier to check in on the kid. The stunned expression on Peter’s face when Tony had handed him a keycard to the building and told him to drop by anytime – that had more than made up for the truly ridiculous pricetag on the property.

In the beginning, Peter had been reluctant to accept Tony’s open invitation; the first time he’d come over, he’d called __and__ texted in advance, and had scaled the building in his suit and tapped on the window to avoid appearing out of place in the intimidatingly upscale lobby. Tony had pulled him in and set him on the sofa while he grabbed him a bottle of root beer only to find the kid passed out in his seat by the time he’d returned.

It had become something of a pattern: Peter would drop in, exchange conversation with Tony and fall asleep in the middle of it.

It wasn’t as though the kid wasn’t sleeping at home – after the third visit had ended in a snoring teenager, Tony had called May to be sure; Peter had gone back to his usual sleep pattern: not the healthiest of nighttime rituals, but typical teenager stuff. Whatever was behind his new-found napping habit, it wasn’t exhaustion.

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony glanced down. He’d thought Peter was already asleep.

“Mr. Parker?”

 It had become a running joke between them; no matter how often he was corrected, Peter seemed unable to call Tony by his first name with any regularity. But instead of the embarrassed smile he usually broke into at this address, Peter’s expression was troubled.

“D’you think I’ll ever be able to retire?”

Tony felt the familiar, leaden weight of guilt drop into his chest.

He had known that a natural consequence of his retirement as Iron Man – and the rest of the team’s retirement from the public eye – would be an added pressure to the next generation of Avengers rising to take their place. And he knew Peter too well to believe for a moment that he could talk the kid out of resuming his duties as Spider-Man. But Thanos had taught him all too clearly that placing himself directly in the line of fire meant endangering the lives of anyone who stood behind him.

More importantly, Thanos had taught him that he could not survive the loss of another member of his family.

“Feeling your age already, kid?”

It was a departure from his recent attempts to step away from the figurative protective armor he’d built around himself, just as he’d stepped away from the physical one. His knee-jerk response to any attempt at emotional connection was still hardwired into his brain; a blinking red dot on the projected interface of his consciousness warning him of an incoming attack.

Tony had thought he’d been getting better about not deflecting around the kid. He patted absently at the boy’s shoulder as if in apology.

“No. Just…” Peter gestured drowsily at the scenes of comfortable domesticity still on the screen.

Tony thought he understood.

“I didn’t think I’d ever stop being Iron Man, Pete,” he murmured, looking anywhere other than into Peter’s eyes. He hesitated a moment, “In a way, I never will. Miss Teen Wakanda might have the title and the armor now, but…”

“But Iron Man is more than a suit,” Peter finished.

Tony nodded, forcibly resisting the impulse to cheapen the sentiment with a witty rejoinder. He was determined this time to get it right. For Peter’s sake.

“I wish you’d retire tomorrow,” he admitted, “Or today. Yesterday would’ve been great. But I know you won’t, because I remember why I wouldn’t.”

Peter opened his eyes to blink up at him, and his smile was sad. Tony went on before the sight of it could convince him to try one more time to change Peter’s mind.

“You’re still so young. And you want to help as many people as you can, and I get it. It won’t happen tomorrow, or the next day, or–” Tony halted his predictions before the length of time became too unsettling to consider. “But some day you’ll decide that being a hero to __every__ one isn’t as important as being a hero to __some__ one. And then you’ll hang up the suit.”

Peter’s eyes flickered back to the screen, his face conflicted. Tony changed course.

“What Thanos did – sacrificing his own child for what he thought was the greater good – was that the right thing to do?”

Peter looked affronted. “Of course not!”

“What if it had worked? If it had ensured the survival of the universe for the next thirteen billion years? Would her death have been worth it?”

Understanding dawned in Peter’s eyes like a sunrise, and his voice was so soft it was almost inaudible. “No.”

Tony looked away again, and for a moment there was silence. Then:

“So you think one day when I – if I ever –” Peter hesitated. “I mean, you gave it up when you realized Pepper was pregnant.”

Tony met Peter’s gaze again for the briefest instant.

“I made the _announcement_ when I realized Pepper was pregnant,” And it wasn’t as though he was telling Peter something he didn’t already know. But it still felt something like a revelation to finish the thought – like ridding himself of the last vestige of armor that clung to his heart. “I gave Shuri the suit the night we made it home. All of us. ”

By the look on Peter’s face, Tony suspected it might have been a revelation after all.

Before Peter could reply, Tony gave his shoulders a gentle shake, nodding back to the program on the screen.

“I thought you said this was a quality teaching tool? I haven’t learned a damn thing except how to pronounce ‘unacceptable’ with a British accent.”

“Soft c-sound,” Peter agreed, his giggle a little watery, but genuine. “Tell F.R.I.D.A.Y. to play the next episode, that kid’s a __nightmare__. They lead off with the easy ones; the kids that come later are way more trouble.”

“Doubt it,” Tony cracked a smile while Peter made a point of rolling over to watch the next episode, pressing closer under his mentor's ribcage. Tony smoothed down Peter’s hair with one hand; let it rest there when the boy’s eyelids blinked heavily in an effort to stay awake.

“Let’s have the next episode, FRI.”

**Author's Note:**

> This happened mostly because the idea wormed its way into my brain and refused to let me write anything else until I wrote it. Title comes from "Lullaby" by W.H. Auden, who deserves far better, but there you have it. 
> 
> I've been lurking on tumblr recently - you can find me there as wingcharm.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
